Dappled Things is a Catholic literary magazine, and this raises the question of what Catholic literature is in the first place. Rather than give you a pat answer, we invite you as a contributor to help us explore that question. You should, however, keep in mind the following:

Catholicism has a profoundly rich history; we tend to favor pieces that seriously engage and are informed by those riches. At the same time, we seek work that does not simply put old wine into new wineskins. Rather, we encourage innovation that is in conversation with the riches of Christianity’s tradition in art, thought, and practice;

We cherish wit, but have little patience for pretentiousness, cynicism, or sneering. We expect that, at their core, pieces published in the magazine will grow out of a love and understanding of the cardinal virtues of wisdom, justice, temperance, and fortitude; the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love; and the redemptive theme that transpires from the Nicene Creed.

At the same time, we value work that is truthful through and through, meaning that it explores reality honestly and unflinchingly, without whitewashing or sugarcoating. To unveil the truth about the beauty and goodness of the world, one must not hide the facts of the Fall;

Pieces need not be overtly religious to be eligible for publication. Remember that Catholic means universal;

Dappled Things accepts simultaneous submissions. If you are submitting your work to other journals at the same time, please explicitly state that in your cover letter, and notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.

All pieces submitted to our nonfiction section will be considered for our yearly Jacques Maritain Prize for Nonfiction. The three prize winners will be selected by an independent judge from among all the nonfiction pieces published in the magazine during the previous year. Our judge this year will be James Matthew Wilson, Assistant Professor of Literature at Villanova University and author of The Violent and the Fallen, Some Permanent Things, and The Catholic Imagination in Modern American Poetry, among other books. The prize winner will be announced in December of 2015, with winners being selected from among the preceding four issues of the journal.

The prize amounts are as follows:

First prize: $500

Second prize: $300

Third prize: $200

All text submissions should use 12-point Times New Roman font. Writers should only use one space after periods and other forms of punctuation.

We are not interested in work that uses an overly academic tone. Avoid jargon and send us work that will be of interest to the well-informed non-specialist. Instead of including a list of works cited, include any citations in journalistic style, as a part of the piece itself. We are open to a wide range of topics and approaches; take a look through past editions of the journal to see what sort of nonfiction we publish. You may use this category for submitting essays, memoirs, interviews, and other nonfiction articles, but please submit book reviews through the category specifically designated for them. Note that neither interviews nor book reviews are eligible for the Jacques Maritain Prize.

Please send only one non-fiction piece at a time and wait for a response before making a new submission.

Please include a byline in your cover letter that we can use in our contributor notes if your piece is selected for publication.

You may submit one fiction piece at a time. Please wait until you have received a response before sending more work. We recommend that you look through previous editions of the journal to get a sense of the type of work we tend to favor. You may use this category to submit short stories, flash-fiction, and drama.

Please include a byline in your cover letter that we can use in our contributor notes if your piece is selected for publication.

You may send us up to seven poems at a time. Please wait until you have received a response before sending other work. Upload separate files for each poem, unless the poems should be considered together as a collection.

All text submissions should use 12-point Times New Roman font.

Poetry should be in the line format (including indentations) in which the poet wishes it to appear in publication.

Persons interested in contributing to the magazine must submit their own original work.

Pieces that have been previously published in other periodicals will not be eligible for publication unless the writer has received permission from the editor.

Copyrights for submitted and published work will remain in the possession of the author. By submitting a piece, the author grants Dappled Things permission to publish the work, and reprint it in future editions or anthologies of work published in the magazine. Unfortunately, at the present time we are unable to remunerate authors for their work; however, we do send a sample printed issue to published authors.

Please include a byline in your cover letter that we can use in our contributor notes if your piece is selected for publication.